As it turned out, it was dinnertime before they got the chance to speak to the President again. By that time everyone had pretty much found something to do, and the aide who got sent after them had an interesting time gathering them up. He lead them through a set of halls that seemed a good deal more complicated than they needed to be, until finally they arrives at one of what were sure to be many dining rooms of assorted size in the Palace.

The aide directed them to their seats--apparently there was some kind of formal protocol that dictated the seating order of guests--and told them just to stand behind their seats until the President arrived. He apologized for not having the time to brief them on extended etiquette, but assured them that the President wouldn't hold it against them. Then he left the room, leaving them to stare at their rather inscrutable place settings.

Fortunately, before they had the chance to feel too awkward, Laguna came in through one of the doors, looked around the room, and shook his head. "He told you that you had to stand up all the time, didn't he?"

There were a few nods.

"Ignore him," was the President's advice. "Go on, sit down."

Laguna slid easily into his chair, letting everyone else follow his lead. Once they had, Squall found himself sitting rather uncomfortably at the President's left hand, and wasn't at all sure what kind of protocol had put him there.

It would be nice, he reflected, if the rest of the group were as convinced in his role as team leader as Laguna seemed to be.

There were two empty seats left--one at the President's right hand, and one at the end opposite him. Laguna motioned to them. "Kiros and Ralo are going to be a bit late," he explained, "but they wanted us to start without them. If you're ready to eat...?"

Lu glanced down the table. "Ralo is coming now, sir?"

Laguna nodded. "I had a copy of the report you gave me sent to her, and she's been talking to the Infirmary staff since a few hours ago." An aide entered, glanced around, and left again. Laguna seemed not to notice. "Kiros is just getting back from a trip to Juska, and I had someone call and tell him what was going on. He should be getting here pretty soon."

The aide re-entered, ushering in a cart of food. Two waiters quickly went about serving everyone, trying to be as innocuous as possible. Laguna ignored them as if he was more than used to having them there--which, in all likelihood, he was. As they were serving, the main door slid open to admit yet another person.

"Kiros!" Laguna greeted him, waving him to take his seat. "How was the trip?"

Kiros cast a wary eye over their guests. "Really, sir, would you like me to tell you?"

"Nah. Sit down." Laguna nodded to the rest of the people at the table. "I think you know what's going on?"

"As far as can be expected." Kiros folded into his chair, nodding civilly. "I'm Kiros Seagull, Palace Administration Overseer. How are all of you?" He didn't wait for a response. "Laguna, at some point, you're going to need to speak to the Legal Council."

Luna had already begun to eat. "Have I done something wrong?"

Kiros glanced back at the table, and pondered for a moment how to phrase everything. "Not at all, sir. But this is pretty dicy ground."

Laguna swallowed his food. "Why?"

Kiros sighed, folding his hands together. "Sir, I don't know if you realize exactly how many laws have been broken in the course of this affair, and how many laws you're looking at breaking."

Lu leaned forward. "Excuse me," she spoke up, catching the attention of the far side of the table. "...Hali Lu, fifth-level biomechanics field officer. It was my understanding that the ESOC had the authority to requisition military supplies and personnel for whatever purpose--"

"Ordinarily, yes," Kiros agreed. "But there are problems when you get into the fact that--his name? Taiga?--is a cyborg, and even more problems when you get into his record."

"What are the problems?" Lu asked, with the cold certainty that she wasn't going to be hungry for very much longer.

Kiros glanced down at his food. "Cyborgs... have never been considered part of the standing army," he said. "The cybernetic corps were established under Adel as what politicians like to call the 'flagship force' of the Esthar Army; since Adel was the one who commissioned them, they were put under a different ruling body and established with different guidelines than standard military."

Laguna shook his head. "Tell me what the problem is."

"The problem--" Kiros took a deep breath. "I can have someone come in and brief us on all the mundane details, but what it boils down to is this: Adel made the corps to function more-or-less under her own authority and wouldn't give up the power to anyone else except for a committee that she established with... more legal power than they necessarily needed. Cyborgs don't fall into the same legal categorization as soldiers do. ...they don't fall into the same categorization as citizens do."

Laguna shook his head slowly. "Why haven't I ever heard anything about this?"

"Because Adel made the corps as autonomous as she could. Sir, Esthar could burn down and the cybernetic corps would be largely unaffected."

"But they're still part of the army, right?" Lu tapped the table. "Or at least, they're under the control of the government. Taiga told me that someone who kidnapped a cyborg could be charged with theft of government property."

"That... may be the worst bit of information," Kiros said. "That's what cyborgs, are, technically--that's how Adel managed to circumvent every military guideline that applied to soldiers."

Laguna was washing something down with a drink, so Lu took the initiative. "How was that?"

Kiros looked over with the air of a doctor who had to tell his patient that she had three terminal illnesses and a calcium deficiency, to boot. "Cyborgs are classified as property of a specialized subsection or the army. ...the assumption was always that the mechanical components would outweigh the... human ones. Laguna, legally, cyborgs aren't considered soldiers because they aren't considered people."